The system has been described as “crunchy and old school” and I don’t find that to be inaccurate or unfair. In fact, I may change my name to Crunchy Old-School.

Foreword by C.J. Carella

A long time ago, in a little burg by the name of New Haven, Connecticut, I joined a gaming group led by one William Reich, who ran a game using a system of his own creation – Glory Road. At that point, I’d been playing tabletop RPGs for some time, and had published a few supplements for Steve Jackson Games. Even though I was a GURPS addict, I found myself enjoying Bill’s Glory Road weekly sessions a great deal. The combat system was deadly and exciting, the magic had a unique flavor that made it stand out, and some of the rules were a refreshing change from the usual fare of the time. I even shamelessly stole the exploding-dice mechanism from Glory Road and adapted it to the home rules that eventually became the Unisystem.

Glory Road is concise but complex, and as such may not be to the taste of those who prefer minimalist rule systems. Contrary to what many designers seem to think nowadays, I think there are a lot of gamers who enjoy complexity for the sake of realism (or at least a realistic/coherent tone) in their rules set, and GR should satisfy the needs of people who want their katana to work differently than their pickaxe or spear, who want to figure out the tradeoffs between chain mail and boiled leather armor, and who want their sorcerers to have access to a wide variety of specializations. If that is your cup of tea, you are in for a treat.

So, arm yourself with dice of many values, paper and pencil and the power of your imagination, and embark on a heroic quest. You will enjoy the trip.

From the product description on the site:

These are the core rules for a fantasy roleplaying game. There are 288 pages of publicly accessible weapon lists, spell lists, powers from above and below and encounters at

and these rules show how to use them. The game has been played in the New Haven, CT. area since the 1980s. See the introduction by C.J. Carella, on the website or in the preview, to see praise for this game.

The core rules are almost all "crunch," with almost no "fluff." Outside of the reference files, there is "fluff" on the website, including the Black Mountain District adventuring environment and a brief adventure at the High Point Inn.